Most people know New Orleanian Phil Anselmo – as a musician and boutique-label curator – for serving up the hard stuff, whether it’s the weighty groove-metal of Pantera or the sludgy, doomed-out Southern style of either his band Down or Housecore Records’ rising young act Haarp.

Ponykiller performs May 25 at Siberia.

Ponykiller, which performs tonight at Siberia, is – ahem – a horse of a different color. Who’d have expected a Housecore band to earn a four-star endorsement from jazzreview.com?

The New Orleans-based trio (guitar, drums, fretless bass) which will support Down on some tour dates later this month, plays a hybrid of psychedelic rock and progressive jazz with a punk edge. Check out the dreamy, proggy “Another Toxic Year,” from Ponykiller’s 2009 debut “The Wilderness,” below:

Besides touring with Down, Ponykiller has also shared the stage with a diverse roster of punk and metal notables, including local sludge godfathers Eyehategod, country-punk shapeshifter Hank Williams III and all-around punk rock weirdo Jello Biafra. “But we’re certainly a musical oddity,” admitted guitarist Collin Yeo – who also plays with Anselmo and Eyehategod’s Mike Williams in the hardcore supergroup Arson Anthem – in an e-mail. “We just seem to be one of those only-in-New-Orleans-type mutant groups.”